Animal Behavior Society (ABS) Film Festival

ABS is pleased to announce the 26th Annual Animal Behavior Film Festival. The festival will be held during the 47th Annual meeting of the Animal Behavior Society at The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA, Jul 25 – 31 2010.

About the Festival

The Animal Behavior Society Film Festival was organized in 1983 to honor the outstanding amateur (non-commercial) and professional (commercial) films produced in the preceding five years that portray important concepts in animal behavior research and education. The Film Festival promotes the Animal Behavior Society’s goals of research, teaching, and conservation at the university and college level.

From all submissions the Chair will select the semifinalist films will be shown at the festival. At the festival, a panel of judges will select one final winner for best amateur (non-commercial) and one final winner for professional (commercial) film.

The festival is often attended by several hundred scientists, professors, applied practitioners, and students from across the globe.

Film Festival Categories

NON-COMMERCIAL: Made by an individual or persons largely associated with animal behavior from a teaching, research, and/or applied perspective. The assistance of professional photographers or a university media/photography department is allowed, but the film must be made primarily for educational/research purposes, and not with the major goal of grossing an income for the individual or the professional photographers. Typically, it is the individual who initiates the film’s production.

COMMERCIAL: Made by professional photographers – filmmakers with the express purpose of grossing a new profit. The film is promoted through extensive advertising and may be shown on national television as part of an ongoing series (example: National Geographic serials, BBC’s “Wildlife on One” films). Various scientists may or may not be used as consulting experts, but typically the scientist is not the individual initiating production of the film.

Criteria for judging in both categories

include (in no particular order):
• content relative to a currently important area of animal behavior, research, or conservation
• general organization and effectiveness
• novelty in terms of originality and difficulty of production
• cinematography

Eligibility and Submission Requirements

• Films produced and copyrighted during the period from January 2005 through May 2010 will be eligible for entry.
• All films must be in English or have English sub-titles to be included in the festival.
• If you have multiple entries, submit each film entry separately.
• If a film has been a past semifinalist shown at the festival, you may not resubmit the film.

Submissions

Send submission films to Dr. Jill Villarreal (address below) postmarked between April 1, 2010 and May 31, 2010.

Each submission package must include

1. DVD copy (NTSC format only and playable on Windows Media Player) of the film/video (due to budget constraints, this DVD will not be returned)
2. Signed copy of the ABS FILM ENTRY FORM (to be posted shortly)
3. Signed copy ANIMAL CARE FORM (to be posted shortly)
4. Brief description of film.